


Crossovers, A History

by thequidditchpitch_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Essays, The Quidditch Pitch: Essays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-09-30
Updated: 2006-09-30
Packaged: 2018-10-26 15:32:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10789506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thequidditchpitch_archivist/pseuds/thequidditchpitch_archivist
Summary: Fandom Crossovers: What are they and what does TQP expect.





	Crossovers, A History

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Annie, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Quidditch Pitch](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Quidditch_Pitch), which went offline in 2015 when the hosting expired, at a time I was not able to renew it. I contacted Open Doors, hoping to preserve the archive using an old backup, and began importing these works as an Open Doors-approved project in April 2017. Open Doors e-mailed all authors about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Quidditch Pitch collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thequidditchpitch/profile).

Crossover fanfiction are stories in which two pre-existing universes are merged; Harry Potter finds himself speaking with Will Parry of Philip Pullman's _His Dark Materials_ trilogy[[1]](http://astele.co.uk/TheQuidditchPitch/Chapter/Details/4321#_ftn1), or Rupert Giles stumbles across Death Eater activity in early 1980s England and is subsequently interrogated and brought into contact with the wizarding world[[2]](http://astele.co.uk/TheQuidditchPitch/Chapter/Details/4321#_ftn2). The crossover element can be primarily considered in two ways: in one, the characters' worlds are interposed by the author; the characters find themselves suddenly in this other pre-existing world. Another way is to imagine that both worlds already coexisted, it was simply that the respective characters didn't realize it, much like the early descriptions of the Muggles in J. K. Rowling's canon materials when they discover magical people do exist.

 

While crossovers have been a standard genre within the fanfiction world since at least 1979 when a Star Trek/Sherlock Holmes crossover was published in a Star Trek fanzine[[3]](http://astele.co.uk/TheQuidditchPitch/Chapter/Details/4321#_ftn3), within Harry Potter fandom, they are definitely in the minority in relation to other genres. In communicating with both readers and writers of Harry Potter crossovers, it appears that the reasons for this boil down to a couple of things. They are perceived as being very difficult to write well, and they are also preconceived as being poorly-written, on the whole. Interestingly, many people who made blanket statements about how awful crossovers tended to be, also indicated that they hadn't read very many. Given that readers of fanfiction read it because of a sense of wanting to know more about characters that they already know, the writer of a crossover is put in a bind in regards to readership because those who might be attracted to her[[4]](http://astele.co.uk/TheQuidditchPitch/Chapter/Details/4321#_ftn4) story will want to be familiar with both fandoms that are being crossed. Not only that, but just because a person enjoys multiple fandoms does not mean that that person wants to read a story in which the fandoms are crossed together.

 

At TQP we'd like to encourage writers of crossovers to post their stories here. This author believes that there is an inherent bias against them within the Harry Potter fanfiction community at large, made manifest in a variety of ways, including the fact that I couldn't find any Harry Potter-crossover exclusive archives on the internet. There is at least one LiveJournal community, however. That being said, TQP welcomes those who enjoy writing and reading crossovers as we add this new category to the archive.

  


* * *

[[1]](http://astele.co.uk/TheQuidditchPitch/Chapter/Details/4321#_ftnref1) “[Harry Potter and the Subtle Knife](http://www.fictionalley.org/authors/katya/HPATSK01.html) ” , accessed 15 February, 2006. Work in Progress.

[[2]](http://astele.co.uk/TheQuidditchPitch/Chapter/Details/4321#_ftnref2) "[The End of the Beginning](http://www.sff.net/people/frants/hlfanfic.htm#eob) " , accessed 3 March, 2006.

[[3]](http://astele.co.uk/TheQuidditchPitch/Chapter/Details/4321#_ftnref3) Joan Marie Verba, _Boldly Writing: A Trekker and Zine History, 1967-1987_ (Minnetonka: FTL Publications, 1996), 48.

[[4]](http://astele.co.uk/TheQuidditchPitch/Chapter/Details/4321#_ftnref4) While I dislike stereotypes, fanfiction does remain a realm overwhelmingly dominated by women writers.


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